Highly-rated Martin Moore set to stay with Leinster

Martin Moore is ready to disappoint a host of English and French clubs and commit his future to home province Leinster.

The highly-rated tighthead prop has emerged as a target for Exeter Chiefs and Racing Metro among other interested European suitors.

But the talented 22-year-old has revealed he expects to complete terms on a new deal with Leinster in the near future.

Moore's revelation comes as a further boost to the Irish Rugby Football Union after Munster's Ireland and Lions scrum-half Conor Murray rejected overseas advances to sign a two-year contract extension this week.

Jim Mallinder's men were as stunned as they were furious with their capitulation, but will draw on their group stage experiences of last season.

Saints slumped to a 25-6 home defeat to Ulster in December last term, only to pull off a remarkable 10-9 victory at Ravenhill in the return contest a week later.

Former Castleknock College man Moore admitted Leinster are extremely wary of Northampton's Ulster factor this weekend.

He said: "We're all very aware of the fact they will bring a big backlash against us.

"Their fans gave them a tough time so we know the job in hand.

"We've got to make sure we don't fall victim to that and do the same thing we did last week. If we come out of that first half, we can deal with their threats up front and that go-forward they thrive off, then we'll have a chance.

"We almost played them at their game with that go-forward last week and maybe that can work again."

Moore is locked into his senior breakthrough year with Leinster and he admitted he relished the responsibility of carrying the RaboDirect Pro12 torch during Ireland's autumn international schedule.

He said: "We had 18 away in national camp so there was a big onus on us to keep the momentum going.

"We had some tough wins but that kept us going and kicked us on.

"Opportunities come along and you've just got to take them when they come. Especially as a tight forward it's all about game time, so I've been fortunate with that.

"Training against lads like Jack McGrath and Cian Healy, there's not going to be many tougher out there, so that definitely gives you confidence to take a step up."